abnabooks Chapter 301 Investigating Without Investigating
Chapter 301 Investigating Without Investigating
Chapter 301 Investigating Without Investigating
The Royal Armoury is always crowded with visitors.
Diego was an important member of the court, one of the twelve Royal Guards, responsible for the king's safety.
After these days of effort, Anne has successfully memorized the names of the active court personnel, as well as their backgrounds.
Only Anne herself knew how difficult this was for her.
Anne is a good reader and has a photographic memory.
However, memorizing names was not her forte.
Regardless, her efforts paid off.
Diego is an academic commoner knight who graduated from the Tundra Knights Academy.
His background is nothing worth telling, but his strength is beyond doubt.
It is said that his personal combat strength is enough to rank him among the top three Guardian Knights.
According to Anne's observations, Chogo appears to be a member of Jonas's faction.
Jonas rarely invited people to the Heraldry to discuss matters in detail, but Diego was one of them.
At this moment, they are discussing a case:
"The vault robbery case remains unsolved. Although Captain Zain keeps saying there's progress, as far as I know, no new leads have been added to the case file for quite some time."
"That's how cases in the palace are. If you're pressed for a lot, they're investigated quickly; if no one pays attention, they'll never be solved."
Jonas answered while stroking his beard.
Anne thought that Jonas really cherished his beard.
His expression suggested that he was used to such situations, even accustomed to them.
Diego said, "But why is it the same even though His Highness the Prince has urged us many times?"
"Your Highness?" Jonas narrowed his eyes. "Which prince?"
"Of course it's the eldest prince," Diego said matter-of-factly.
"That's right," Jonas said with a smile.
Diego was even more puzzled: "Sir, what do you mean?"
Jonas did not answer, but looked at Anne:
"Annie, what do you think?"
Anne thought for a few seconds and immediately gave her answer:
"Zane Bennett, the second son of Earl Bennett of the Stuart Valley region, whose mother is the sister of Earl Holmes."
"The Earl of Holmes was also a vassal of the Duke of Hayes, who was the wife of the second prince, Reuven Sinclair, and the uncle of Dana Hayes."
Jonas nodded in satisfaction, then turned to Diego:
"Do you understand now, Diego?"
Diego shook his head: "This is too convoluted, my head is completely spinning."
Jonas seemed to have no intention of expecting Diego to understand from the start; he offered no guidance but instead provided the answer directly:
"Simply put, Zain is a member of the Second Prince's faction."
"Those guys are insane!" Diego roared angrily. "They're idiots! The eldest prince's right to the throne is clearly unassailable, so why are they fighting amongst themselves, disrupting the country's operations, and causing chaos throughout the kingdom!"
Jonas narrowed his eyes: "So, you're a supporter of the First Prince?"
Diego was speechless upon hearing this.
He lowered his head: "No, I do not participate in any factional struggles; I only serve the King. The current King is Frank IV, so I serve the old King. Whoever the next King is, I will obey him."
"Him?" Jonas smiled. "It may not be 'him.' Princess Sally has already begun to build her power, and the Third Princess's husband also plans to help his wife rise to power."
"Diego, you'd serve even a woman?"
Upon hearing this question, Xuan Ge remained silent for a moment before answering:
"The Guardians serve the King, and no matter how many restrictions are added to the question, my answer will not change."
Anne thought Diego was rare; after all, few men in this world were willing to lower their heads in front of women.
Although Diego seemed reluctant, his determination was something Anne could agree with.
"Hahaha," Jonas laughed with satisfaction, "So, it seems I didn't guide you for nothing. That's right, no matter how many factions there are, or how chaotic and complex the struggles are, once you get involved, there will inevitably be winners and losers."
"Only by not fighting can we remain invincible. By not helping anyone, we are helping everyone. In the end, whoever has the last laugh, we will not suffer any losses."
"I understand the logic," Diego nodded, "but I just don't understand why those Sinclairs, who are all family, would fight each other to the death!"
"This is not the first struggle for power, nor will it be the last. Even in the short history of the Kingdom of Judian, which is only a little over a thousand years old, there have been seven coups."
"The greatest characteristic of power is its immense allure; anyone with a weak will can be seduced by it."
Diego clenched his fists: "But, of all times, I've run into this."
"This is not a coincidence, but an inevitability," Jonas said. "Ever since the assassination of the previous king, Claude Sinclair, and the deaths or disappearances of all his bloodline, the order of the court has been crumbling."
"In fact, no matter who inherits the throne, a power struggle is inevitable. But our old king's specialty is sleeping."
"Except for the first two years, I completely lost control of power. Power is like a wild horse; if you don't hold the reins tight, no one knows where it will go."
"This leads to power being divided among middle-level managers, which in turn allows some people who shouldn't be involved to gain considerable advantages. People are always inclined to gamble; once you're at the table, can you resist taking a game?"
Upon hearing this, Diego lowered his head, and Anne couldn't tell whether he understood.
Diego then asked, "Even so, how were you able to hold back?"
“I am a herald,” Jonas shrugged. “Compared to you, the gains I can obtain are negligible.”
"No honors are reserved for heralds, and there has never been a tradition of bestowing wealth and lands upon them."
"And since we also don't allow marriage and children, there's no need to consider future generations. You see, Diego, what can I possibly gain?"
Xuan Ge remained silent.
Jonas said, "A herald seeks only one thing, and that is fame. And the first measure of a herald's fame is whether he is faithful to his herald."
"Now you understand, right? I am only loyal to the Great Kingdom, the Sinclair family, the royal city, Platinum Castle, and the court, but not to any individual, including the king. Therefore, why would I help any member of the royal family who seeks to seize power?"
Diego's face finally relaxed a little:
"Me too! Guardian Knights protect the Divine Scripture and the Kingdom of the Scripture!"
"I'm glad you understand," Jonas nodded with satisfaction.
"But Master Jonas," Diego asked again, "am I really going to abandon that case?"
"What are you thinking?" Jonas asked in return.
"The national treasury is already empty, and this theft of the treasury is undoubtedly adding insult to injury for the court's finances."
Diego remained stationary.
"If the royal family goes bankrupt, the consequences will be extremely serious! Therefore, the case must be closed as soon as possible and the huge sum of money lost must be recovered."
Anne agreed with Xuan Ge's point of view, but she also couldn't think of a solution.
As for investigating cases, Annie knew absolutely nothing about it.
Jonas laughed a few times, which puzzled both Anne and Diego.
Diego asked, "Why is Master laughing so loudly?"
"The case doesn't necessarily need to be solved," Jonas said. "In fact, the case itself is enough to tell a lot."
Please enlighten me.
"I'm asking you, how much money was stolen from the vault?"
"Fifty thousand gold coins."
"So perfectly round?"
"—" Diego thought about it carefully, "It seems so."
"What about time?"
"The Treasury Minister discovered the vault had been burglarized during his daily inventory check."
Diego replied,
"About an hour earlier, the Chancellor of the Exchequer had personally come to the treasury and urgently transferred a sum of money, and the treasury official in charge of disbursement did not notice anything unusual at the time. In other words, the theft occurred within that one hour."
Jonas looked at Anne: "About how much does fifty thousand gold coins weigh?"
Anne quickly did the mental calculation: "Close to 70,000 ounces, which is more than 4,000 pounds."
Jonas then turned to Diego: "Over four thousand pounds, to move it out of a heavily guarded vault in an hour without anyone noticing, and then not be found afterwards, is really difficult."
Diego said, "You mean, it was done by an insider!"
“Not necessarily,” Jonas said. “Perhaps some kind of supernatural power was used. But in any case, there was definitely someone on the inside assisting.” “Who?” Diego asked hastily.
"How would I know? But I can guess the general direction."
Jonas picked up her teacup and took a big gulp of her black tea.
"Anne, what is the Chancellor of the Exchequer's background? Keep it simple this time, just tell Diego the answer directly."
Upon hearing this, Anne immediately mentally organized the Chancellor of the Exchequer's network of connections:
"He is the eldest prince's man."
"And what about the treasury manager?"
"He is related to both the eldest princess and the eldest prince."
"Chief Attendant and Palace Steward?"
Anne carefully examined the other person's identity but couldn't come up with an answer, so she shook her head.
Jonas explained, "His son had contracted the plague and nearly died. He was saved by an alchemist from the Far East, who is now a retainer of the Third Princess."
"I see," Anne nodded. "They're from the Third Princess's faction."
Diego asked, "Master Jonas, what does this mean? Does it mean they're all involved?"
"The problem is that this is a scandal, but the key question is who it has nothing to do with."
Diego's eyes widened immediately: "Second Prince!"
“That’s it,” Jonas laughed. “Captain Zane isn’t willing to move the case forward either; he’s also one of the Second Prince’s men. By all accounts, it’s the Second Prince who wants this case to fizzle out.”
"But what does he need so much gold for?"
Jonas shook his head: "He's not after the money, but rather to implicate more people in this major theft, that way."
"...he can then strike down multiple competitors at once!"
“That’s right,” Jonas nodded, “Therefore, I suspect the truth behind this theft is also likely related to the Second Prince!”
"Did the second prince steal 50,000 gold coins?"
"At least it's related to him."
“But,” Diego frowned, looking troubled, “he is, after all, a prince. I’m afraid even an interrogation will be difficult to conduct.”
"Diego, Diego, don't you understand the priorities?"
Diego looked at Jonas with a puzzled expression: "Master, please enlighten me."
"Didn't you just say it was to recover the gold coins?" Jonas said. "In that case, does it really matter who the culprit is?"
"But how can we recover the lost coins if we don't find the culprit?"
Jonas looked at Anne with a disappointed expression, then turned to her:
What do you think?
When asked a question, Annie's little brain worked quickly.
Recovering stolen gold doesn't require finding the culprit.
Following this line of thought, a strategy gradually took shape in Annie's mind:
"Assuming this matter is indeed related to the Second Prince, compared to the other princes who hope to recover the lost gold, the Second Prince is probably more afraid of the case being solved."
"But the problem is that the progress of the case is in Zain's hands alone, which puts the second prince in an invincible position in this matter."
"If someone else were to take charge of the case, and the Second Prince were given updates on the investigation and hinted that he was under suspicion, it would be a good thing."
"Perhaps some thief will suddenly have a change of heart and return all the gold to the vault. In that case, there's no need to investigate further..."
In other words, it has become a completely unsolved case.
After giving her answer, Anne looked at Jonas.
Annie breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the relieved smile on the other person's face.
Xuan Ge then asked, "But no one is more suitable to handle this case than Captain Zane. The Chief of Staff's authority is independent of other positions, and no one can change this outcome."
Upon hearing this, Anne looked at Jonas again.
After Jonas nodded, Anne continued:
"Why should someone who is nominally in charge be the actual person in charge?"
Diego asked, puzzled, "I don't understand, miss. Please explain."
"I have heard that among the Guardians of the Order, there is a Guardian named Belon Ritthom."
"Yes, he is the eldest son and heir of the Earl of Chowtau Castle," Diego nodded. "He abandoned everything his bloodline gave him for the sake of honor."
In that respect, I admire him greatly.
"Where is he?" Anne asked.
"He was sent to attend the wedding of the heir to the Château de la Cité," Diego said, "but Perón's own will played a significant role. But undeniably, even as a Herald, having relinquished all power, family is still family."
"I didn't mean anything by it, my lord," Anne said, bowing her head slightly. "I was just feeling sorry for Lord Perón."
"regret?"
"Yes," Anne replied, "He's been arguing in the capital, so even if he were to take charge of this extremely challenging theft case, it would be beyond his capabilities!"
Upon hearing this, Diego's eyes widened immediately:
"Miss Booker, you mean—"
"—Alright, Diego," Jonas suddenly interrupted, "some things are better left unsaid, even though I'm probably the least perceptive person in the court in my Heraldry."
"My apologies, sir. I'll take my leave now and get on with the matter."
Diego bowed, nodded to Anne, and then left the House of Armor.
After the door closed, Annie Zhixin looked at Jonas.
Jonas smiled:
"It can only be said that he truly deserves to be Joseph's top student, he truly lives up to his reputation."
"My junior sister!"
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